When the spiked helmet was first issued in 1842 all the helmets had a chinstrap made of metal pieces. The strap was made of metal pieces that overlapped each other like fishscales. The German style was an alternating pattern of a piece with two "bumps" followed by one with three. The chinscales would be of brass or german silver/nickel for enlistedmen. The officers would have gilt or silver chinstraps.

The first chinstraps were held on with a screw and nut type arrangement. Later the bolt was replaced with a rosette. The rosette had two metal tabs that were bent to hold the chinstrap on.

In 1891 a knob with a diamond shaped point was developed, befestigungsknopf. At this time a leather chinstrap was developed for the enlistedmen. The metal on the leather chin strap was either german silver/nickel or brass depending on the other metal on the helmet. NCOs would use a metal chinscale that had the M91 mounting style.

In 1915 the gray metal helmets were introduced. The metal on the leather chinstraps was changed to match the metal of the helmet.

The leather chinstrap with the M91 mount would also be used in the metal helmet helmets introduced in 1916. This is one of the reasons the spike helmet is often found without a chinstrap.